1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a network-based workflow management system, and more particularly, to a system suitable to coordinate the assignment and fulfillment of tasks over a network.
2. Description of the Related Technology
Outsourcing is one of the most prevalent trends in today's business environment. Nearly every company outsources some part of its business. For example, the accounts receivable collections, janitorial, and payroll functions are outsourced so frequently that it has become, over the last few decades, an accepted method for running those functions. Other functions are being outsourced with more regularity, such as computer services, benefits administration, telephone customer support, and records management. Some functions are only being outsourced by a few companies, and may require a number of years before they are more widely outsourced. These functions include engineering, financial analysis, document translation and management.
Many organizations have found that outsourcing projects, tasks or functions can be advantageous if such outsourcing has the effect of reducing transaction costs. Downes and Mui, Unleashing the Killer App Digital Strategies for Market Dominance, Harvard Business School Press, Boston Mass., 1998. Therefore, organizations seeking to outsource a project will submit a request for proposal to at least one service provider to obtain a quote or price for completing the project. Once the service provider has returned the proposal with a quote for completing the services, the organization will evaluate the quotes for service and select a service provider to carry out the project. The organization may use a variety of criteria to determine which service provider to select, such as the service provider's price, qualifications and reputation. Usually, the competition between service providers results in lower end cost for the organization. However, this system has no mechanism for allowing the electronic delivery of a work product or allowing completed projects or portions of any completed projects to be stored and used as a resource for subsequent projects.
By the same token, state and local governments have used contract bidding to purchase products and services, such as computers, building contractors or road maintenance equipment. Contract bidding is a process that in certain circumstances might reduce transaction costs due to the competition in bidding. In general, the contract bidding process is similar to outsourcing; for example, bids are collected, bids are evaluated and service providers are selected. This system also has no mechanism for allowing the electronic delivery of a work product or allowing completed projects or portions of any completed projects to be stored and used as a resource for subsequent projects.
An extraordinary effort is expended by some contractors to track organizations that outsource contracts or place contract awards up for bid. On-line services, such as BidNet, can collect information regarding various organizations requesting bids for projects. Usually, an on-line service collects bid request information from different agencies, e.g., state and local governments, hospitals, universities, etc., and the on-line service will provide this information to qualified contractors. For example, once a contractor has registered with the on-line service and the service has received an agency's bid request that pertains to goods or services provided by the contractor, the on-line service will generate a summary that includes bidding information, such as the agency issuing the bid, the deadline for submitting a bid, where the products and/or service must be delivered and any special specifications the agency may require. Accordingly, the summary will be mail to the contractor to assist him in determining whether to bid on the contract. While this system has the advantage of notifying a contractor of possible contracts with minimal effort required by contractor, it has the disadvantage of not providing a complete electronic workflow management system. Additionally, the on-line service does not allow users to recycle any previously completed work. Moreover, the system does not provided electronic work product delivery.
Another bidding and selling method is an auction. Auctions provide a popular and exciting marketplace for buying and selling property. Many ordinary individuals are denied access because they are required to attend an auction in person to place a bid on an item for sale. This requirement limits participation in the auction to those people who live near the auction site or those people who can afford the time and expense to travel to the auction site.
Many attempts have been made to solve the problem of gaining bid access to an auction without having to be physically present at an auction site. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 4,789,928 issued to Fujisaki on Dec. 6, 1988 describes an auction information processing system which enables individuals spread over a wide area to participate in an on-line auction. The system includes a host computer connected via communication lines to many remote terminals of individual bidders. The individual bidders enter bids from their remote terminals and the current highest bid and eventual winning bid are displayed in real-time on the remote terminals. While this system has the advantage of allowing a large number of individual bidders to participate in an on-line auction, it has the disadvantage of not allowing electronic workflow management. Furthermore, the system does not provided electronic product delivery.
Another computerized bidding system is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,903,201 issued to Wagner on Feb. 20, 1990. Wagner describes an automated futures trading exchange wherein bids to purchase or offers to sell a particular commodity contract are made by exchange members through remote terminals connected to an exchange computer. The exchange computer matches offer prices and bid prices to complete trading transactions. The system does not provided electronic product delivery.
Another system for conducting a competitive bidding procedure is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,243,515 issued to Lee on Sep. 7, 1993. Lee describes a secure teleprocessing bidding system for enabling construction subcontractors to submit bids to a general contractor for a particular construction job. Subcontractors use an ordinary telephone to dial into a central bidding computer and enter their bids. At the close of the bidding session, the central computer prints a summary report of all bids received, and the summary report is mailed or faxed to all participating bidders. As in the previous bidding systems, this system has no mechanism for allowing the electronic delivery of a work product or allowing completed projects to be stored and used as a resource for subsequent projects.
In addition to the on-line auctions mention above, on-line auctions are now being conducted over the Internet. One such auction is Save the Earth Foundation has an Artrock Auction that is described at their world-wide web site http://www.commerce.com/save_earth. To participate in the auction, bidders register and submit bids for auction items through the Internet. Bidders are notified by electronic mail when a bid higher than their own is placed on an item. The winning bidder is also contacted by electronic mail at the close of the bidding session. The Artrock Auction has no mechanism to allow electronic delivery of the product.
Similarly, Ebay has an on-line auction, as described at their world-wide web site http://www.ebay.com. In this auction system, bidders also register and submit bids through the Internet. Items for sale are graphically displayed on the bidders' screens, in addition to the bid information for each item. Bid information is updated hourly throughout each two week bidding session. Unfortunately, like the previously mentioned on-line auctions, Ebay's auction has no mechanism for allowing electronic delivery of a product.
Similarly, Christie's International describes an on-line auction at their world-wide web site http://www.christies.com. In Christie's auction, bidders register and submit bids in the same manner as the Ebay auction. Christie's on-line auction also suffers from the same disadvantage as the Ebay auction in that it has no mechanism to allow a product to be delivered electronically.